A decade of public-works excavations on Flores Island—once Tayza, capital of the powerful Itza Maya confederacy in Postclassic- and contact-period Petén, Guatemala—has recovered large quantities of artifacts but without proper provenience controls. This important center is poorly understood in archaeological terms because of the dense modern construction that precludes systematic investigation. Thus, these excavated materials become critical despite their limitations for insights into the Itza settlement. Convenience samples of the slipped and decorated pottery from the salvage (and other) excavations were analyzed to interpret style and meaning through the combined perspectives of design structure analysis, information exchange, visual rhetoric, literary studies, and semiotechnology. Features examined include forms, types, colors, layouts, and motifs. The spatial distributions of these features over the island were assessed in terms of a quadripartite organization mentioned in Spanish accounts. It is proposed that the southeastern quadrant was the residential area of Itza royal elites, due to the presence of elaborate and innovative polychromes conveying messages of elite power. Pottery in the northern quadrants has more traditional decoration resembling that at mainland sites in the Lake Petén basin, and signals ordinary Itza identity. These differences, and the overall theoretical approach, might be testable on larger, better-excavated samples.

The geology of the Darwin Forest in central-western Argentina has been extensively studied since it was originally described by the author of On the Origin of Species. However, its role as a source and quarry of lithic raw materials throughout human history in the region has received less attention. In this paper, we evaluate the potential of the fossil trunks as knappable resources. Geological and archaeological surveys characterize the different features of human use in the Paramillos and Los Colorados geological formations. Petrographics and GIS analysis are also developed. Results show a strategic location of the sources related to Uspallata valley and Precordilleran sites (Agua de la Cueva). The favorable conditions related to accessibility and visibility, as well as quality and abundance of these raw materials explain the extensive exploitation demonstrated in quarried trunks and the corresponding incidence of primary debitage in surface areas.

We present quantitative data on population size and plaza area in three groups of ancient Mesoamerican settlements: a sample of 30 Late Postclassic cities and towns from throughout Mesoamerica and two regional settlement systems from the Classic period, including south-central Veracruz (the Mixtequilla) and the Palenque region. Plaza size scales with population in a sublinear relationship in all three groups, meaning that larger settlements had considerably less plaza area per capita than smaller settlements. These results suggest that the currently popular interpretation drawn from Classic Maya archaeology that plazas were places designed to hold the entire urban population for passive viewing of spectacles may be incomplete. We argue that the observed quantitative relationships between population and plaza area support the notion that plazas were designed to be used for a variety of purposes—including several types of ceremonies and marketplaces—held at different times following a regular schedule.

The March 2017 issue of Latin American Antiquity brings with it momentous changes. It also marks the conclusion of our first term as coeditors. We think it important to let you know how LAQ has grown this decade and especially over the past three years, and to inform you of significant changes that commence with this issue.

Amazonia and the Guianas possess exceptional potential for ethnoarchaeological studies because of the precolumbian heritage of modern-day Amerindian people. Surprisingly, minimal scholarship of this nature has been conducted in the South American lowlands. On the French Guiana coast, Maillard, a small Palikur village, was abruptly abandoned in 1990. I initiated an ethnoarchaeological study to pinpoint important differences between the interpretation of archaeological and ethnographic data. I recorded the topography of features and remains, compiled an inventory of artifacts and the contents of discard areas, inventoried the cultivated trees present, and described the characteristics of the surroundings. After analyzing the data using classical methods of archaeological inference to obtain a complete reconstruction of the village and the customs of its inhabitants, I invited the chief into his now-abandoned village to describe the settlement as it was while inhabited. In the twenty years since, I have made several visits to track the natural degradation of the site. This ethnoarchaeological approach shows that archaeologists dealing with field data can make many mistakes. Conversely, ethnographic accounts are distorted by the cultural rules and interdictions of interviewees. This experiment suggests the need for prudence in our interpretations and hypotheses, especially in the tropical lowlands, where archaeological preservation is particularly poor.

Stranded in Jamaica for a year in AD 1503, Christopher Columbus and crew became reliant on the Taíno village of Maima for provisions. Recent archaeological survey and excavations at this site document a sizeable hillside settlement established early in the White Marl period of Jamaican culture history with continued occupation up to Spanish contact. Beginning by 13th to 14th century AD, the people at Maima expanded their settlement capacity across the hillslope through construction of house terraces and platforms employing large volumes of limestone rock and gravel fill. Archaeological excavation on these features has exposed at least one circular, center-pole Taíno house with a surprisingly limited floor space. A review of Jamaican archaeology suggests both hillside terracing and small house form is characteristic of Jamaican Taíno village configuration more broadly. This pattern stands in contrast to other areas of Taíno settlement in the Caribbean, and to the small number of Spanish chronicles in which Taíno villages and houses are described.

The first systematic research on the funerary record at the Río Bote 1 (RB1) rockshelter, located next to the Bote River, a tributary of the Santa Cruz River in southern Patagonia, has revealed at least three human burial events dating to the very early Late Holocene and one dating to the middle Late Holocene. The RB1 site appears to have been used for both subsistence and inhumation activities. All of the burials uncovered postdate the deposition of a prominent volcanic ash layer. Technological information indicates that RB1 was used by groups that were also using spaces to the west and south. Mortuary evidence indicates connections with groups living in areas extending from the Última Esperanza region to the Pali Aike volcanic field, at least at the beginning of the Late Holocene. The selection of the same place for multiple burials may explain why so few human burials are known in southern Patagonia from the beginning of the Late Holocene and earlier periods, as it is possible that sites like RB1 are yet to be discovered.

This paper contributes to scholarship on continental fish exploitation in arid zones in South America by exploring fish consumption by humans in prehispanic times using available zooarchaeological evidence from two wetlands in central western Argentina: Llancanelo and Guanacache lagoons. Analyzing the exploitation of this resource lets us discuss the intensification process that has been proposed for this area. Ichthyoarchaeological and archaeofaunistic information is integrated and compared to reveal that the oldest incidence of fish exploitation (ca. 3000 years B.P.) is from the Llancanelo lagoon. Fish consumption seems to have been practiced since the first occupations in both the wetlands and may reflect an adaptation to the new environment. Contrary to our expectations, temporal trends in abundance and diversity indexes do not show differences between the areas in intensification processes. We conclude that fish represent a major resource for sustenance both in Guanacache and in Llancanelo lagoons, although its exploitation was complemented with consumption of other small animals.

Public architecture emerged in conjunction with the development of early complex societies and is therefore a key feature for understanding them. Anthropogenic mounds and platforms in southern Chile dated to the Late Ceramic Period (AD 1000–1550), and historic indigenous inhabitants (AD 1550–present) are the southernmost manifestation of public architecture in the Americas. We report the results from excavation of an architectural complex on Mocha Island that covers an area of ~9.2 ha and a volume of ~43,000 m3. This paper describes its construction dynamics, placing its origin at around AD 1000, a moment of significant sociopolitical and economic changes in southern Chile. We then associate information obtained from this site with similar complexes on mainland southern Chile to locate this phenomenon within a more regional comparative context.

Diachronic analysis of obsidian artifacts collected from Ceibal, Guatemala, can illuminate long-term patterns and changes in the Preclassic and Classic Maya interregional and long-distance exchange systems. For this analysis sources of all obsidian artifacts were identified by a combination of pXRF of a sample of 5,375 obsidian artifacts and visual examination of 7,073 artifacts. The interregional exchange of large polyhedral cores of obsidian from the Maya highlands and local production of pressure blades began after the rise of political complexity at Ceibal, by the early Middle Preclassic Real 3 phase (775–700 B.C.). El Chayal obsidian was heavily used during the early Middle Preclassic period, but San Martín Jilotepeque was the principal source of obsidian in the late Middle Preclassic, Late Preclassic, and Terminal Preclassic periods. Procurement of large polyhedral cores of obsidian from the Maya highlands increased over the same period. Obsidian was also imported in the form of nodules for the production of percussion flakes during the Preclassic period. Throughout the Classic period obsidian was imported mainly in the form of more prepared polyhedral cores that were reduced into pressure blades at Ceibal, and El Chayal resumed its place as the principal source of obsidian. This period also saw long-distance exchange of finished obsidian artifacts from highland Mexico. Interregional exchange of obsidian from the Maya highlands was of great economic significance for the inhabitants of the community and was more crucial for the development of lowland Maya civilization than was long-distance exchange.

The Recorrido Arqueológico de Coixtlahuaca (RAC) presents period-by-period settlement pattern maps for the valley of Coixtlahuaca in the northern Mixteca Alta. The RAC project made improvements in full-coverage survey methods. We identify limitations and suggest that similar projects in the future need to resolve several management and budget problems. The survey revealed two periods of heavy occupation, 700–300 BC and AD 1200–1520, separated by a long period of lower population. Archaeological and historical data indicate that during the AD 1200–1520 period, and probably earlier, small landholders organized in strong communities managed an intensive agroecosystem, investing in landesque capital. Urbanization was impressive, yet cities were aggregations of communities and barrios. Today local citizens pose questions about how the large prehispanic population could have organized and sustained itself; these questions coincide with anthropological interest in collective agency, property, landesque capital, and collapse.

This paper explores the diverse human practices related to the use of animals during the Inca occupation of west Tinogasta (Catamarca, Argentina). We argue that the Inca state sponsored festivities in the San Francisco site (transitional puna of Chaschuil), where wild animal meat, mainly meat and bone marrow of adult vicuñas, was shared and consumed. These wild camelids were captured during the chaku, a collective hunting regulated by social and cultural mechanisms. Llamas were used as beasts of burden in caravans transporting ceramic vessels (aríbalos and aribaloides) from the pottery production center of Batungasta to San Francisco. We postulate that the aríbalos and aribaloides, which were designed for alcoholic beverages, were lined with camelid bone marrow to make their inner walls impermeable. Lastly, we argue that bones of birds and rodents were used to and the skin of a puma (important symbolic animal for the Incas) was processed in the San Francisco site.

Warfare was a prevalent phenomenon throughout the Andes during the Late Intermediate period (LIP; AD 1000–1450). A salient research topic within broader investigations of conflict is how populations cope with chronic warfare. This article utilizes statistical and GIS-based analyses of architectural features and settlement patterns to reconstruct defensive coping mechanisms among groups living in 15 fortified settlements in the Nazca region of Peru. This research evaluates how populations deployed artificial defenses (fortifications), natural defensibility, and settlement placement to best protect themselves and critical resources from enemy incursions. Intersite variation in fortification was primarily driven by population size: the smallest and most vulnerable settlements were the most heavily fortified and occupied the least accessible areas. Variation in fortification investment within each site was driven by differences in the accessibility of approaches leading to the residential sector of a site. Settlement patterns were largely driven by natural defensibility, large viewsheds, and proximity to economic resources. This research demonstrates that LIP populations made optimal trade-offs between competing defensive variables, revealing highly patterned regional defensive strategies. Broader spatial, settlement, and architectural data indicate that warfare in the region was chronic and internecine.

Excavations at Abreu Garcia provide a detailed case study of a mound and enclosure mortuary complex used by the southern proto-Jê in the southern Brazilian highlands. The recovery of 16 secondary cremation deposits within a single mound allows an in-depth discussion of spatial aspects of mortuary practices. A spatial division in the placement of the interments adds another level of duality to the mortuary landscape, which comprises: (1) paired mound and enclosures, (2) twin mounds within a mound and enclosure, and (3) the dual division in the mound interior. The multiple levels of nested asymmetric dualism evoke similarities to the moiety system that characterizes modern southern Jê groups, highlighting both the opposition and the complementarity of the social system. The findings offer deeper insight into fundamental aspects of southern proto-Jê social organization, including the dual nature of the community, the manifestation of social structure in the landscape, and its incorporation into mortuary ritual. The results have implications for research design and developing appropriate methodologies to answer culture-specific questions. Furthermore, the parallels among archaeology, ethnohistory, and ethnography enable an understanding of the foundation of modern descendent groups and an assessment of the continuity in indigenous culture beyond European contact.

Maya figurine styles from the Late Classic to Postclassic periods (ca. AD 600–1521) from central Petén, Guatemala undergo an abrupt change at the Terminal Classic-Postclassic transition (ca. AD 830–1000). Despite the intimate association of figurines with households, such shifts parallel those on stone monuments and decorated vessels, underscoring the role of figurines in processes of political upheaval. Documenting figurine chronologies over broad periods of time, however, tells us little about how people in the past may have experienced temporal changes. Thus, in concert with a focus on figurine chronologies, this article explores the temporalities of figurines as manifested through their discard, the simultaneous experience of old and new figurine styles, and tensions between personal and monumental time.

We present data produced through archaeological and geological survey, as well as geochemical analysis of the Zaragoza-Oyameles obsidian source area located on the northern and western flanks of the Los Humeros Caldera in eastern Puebla, Mexico. One result of the intensive archaeological surface survey of this obsidian source area was the identification of 117 obsidian flow-band exposures. Geologic samples from 40 of these were submitted for instrumental neutron activation analysis. Eighty-five projectile points collected from the surface were characterized using portable X-ray fluorescence. These analyses identified three sub-sources: Z-O1, Potreros Caldera, and Gomez Sur. The Gomez Sur sub-source appears chemically similar to the previously identified Altotonga source, located 25 km to the northeast. Results of the geological survey help elucidate the relationship of Altotonga obsidian with the Zaragoza-Oyameles source area. The data from the three sub-sources are compared to all consumer site data attributed to the Zaragoza-Oyameles source in the Missouri University Research Reactor database. Results indicate that the majority of consumer samples throughout Mesoamerica match the Z-O1 sub-source, while 4 percent match the Potreros Caldera sub-source. This information, combined with the Gomez Sur data, is discussed in terms of economic relations with the regional center of Cantona. Obsidian procurement and distribution may have been more nuanced than previously modeled. We suggest that a number of potentially independent communities in addition to Cantona may have been involved in distributing this obsidian throughout Mesoamerica.

This article contributes to the ichthyoarchaeological record of the north coast of the province of Río Negro, Patagonia Argentina, by exploring the chronological variations in the fish exploitation in the area of Bahía San Antonio (BSA). This study examines 7,473 ichthyoarchaeological remains from excavations and surface contexts, and identifies the represented species and parts. Recovered otoliths have been used to determine the sizes of the Micropogonias furnieri (White croaker). The results indicate temporal changes in the fish exploitation in the area in both frequency and diversity of species. Finally, these results are discussed in relation to the available archaeological information at the regional scale in order to characterize the role of ancient fishing in this sector of the north Patagonian coast.

Excavations conducted in 2015 and 2016 discovered a unique set of friezes at the Initial period (2100–1000 cal BC) site of Taukachi-Konkán in the coastal Peruvian valley of Casma. At this time, the Casma Valley was dominated by the Sechín Alto polity, a cultural development of unprecedented complexity characterized by large planned cities, monumental constructions, and strong interconnections among component settlements. Friezes are known from all major Sechín Alto polity sites where they typically adorn structure facades; however, the Taukachi-Konkán friezes are unusual because they cover all four interior walls of a sunken court with restricted access. Based on analysis of the context and content of these friezes, we suggest that the collective imagery depicts aspects of Sechín Alto polity cosmology, including possible iconography relating to their creation myth. Furthermore, motifs from the Taukachi-Konkán sunken court can be found at contemporary sites both within and outside the Casma Valley. This suggests that the worldview we reconstructed may have been widespread during the Initial period.

Utilitarian ceramic vessels form the bulk of artifact assemblages in the Maya Lowlands, but little is known about their production beyond the likelihood that they were made in a domestic context without elite involvement. Characterizing the production and distribution of these vessels is vital to understanding ancient Maya economic systems; nevertheless, this is a difficult task in the absence of primary production locales. We use spatial data, use-wear analyses on stone and ceramic tools, and analyses of finished products to identify households involved in ceramic production at three settlement groups at Uxbenka, Belize, during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 600–800). Our analyses indicate that Uxbenka potters were likely involved in some level of residential specialization focused on specific vessel forms. These data, in conjunction with ceramic data from nearby Lubaantun and Nim Li Punit, suggest that all three polities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production and primarily engaged in intrapolity distribution. We argue that this self-sufficiency is due to widely available resources, smaller population sizes, and the availability of high quality agricultural lands.

Exchange goods contribute to social complexity and identity construction, but our knowledge of past practices associated with the circulation and consumption of such goods is limited. We explore the polished black ceramics of the San Pedro de Atacama oasis in northern Chile, which were widely traded during the first seven centuries A.D. In particular, we consider the relationships established between the agricultural and pastoral communities of the highland oases and the marine hunter-gatherers who inhabited the Pacific coast in order to examine the circulation and consumption of exotics as prestige goods.